Digging Deeper
by Bacon.The.Bard
Summary: Naruto wears two masks: one is porcelain, and the other weaved out of careful acting and bright orange. What will Naruto do when both begin to crumble? Tension in the Wave certainly isn't helping matters. The Akatsuki are on the move. ANBU!Naruto
1. Exposition

**Hello, everyone! Though I am not new to the sight/being and author on here (I have another account floating around cyberspace), this is my first time in this fandom, and i have to warn you: I haven't actually watched much of the show. What I know, I know from research and reading fanfiction. I'll stop rambling now. Enjoy!!**

**~Bard  
**

**Rating: Just for safety. Some bad language, violence, and mentions of child abuse.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. Don't sue me; I don't have the time. **

* * *

Team 7 was eating lunch when Kakashi first heard it. A small series of taps on hollow wood. He paused from his reading and cocked his head slightly. It was ANBU code. His one eye narrowed. He hadn't been in the ANBU for years.... Why? The message continued.

_Are you going to Scarborough fair?_

_Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme._

_Remember me to one who lives there,_

_He was once a true love of mine._

It seemed he wasn't the only one to notice the noise. Eyes closed and ears perked, Kakashi's shortest pupil had his nosed scrunched in concentration.

"I wonder what that noise is." He mused cheerfully. Without waiting for a reply, he sped away to find out.

Rolling his eyes at his student's impatience, lack of common sense, and almost deadly curiosity, Kakashi followed after the blond, hoping it wasn't anyone dangerous and motioning for the two remaining Gennin to come with him.

oOoOoOo

_...One who lives there.....He was once a true love of mine..._

Naruto hummed the last bits of the melody in his mind; one of his ANBU was calling for him. For them to bother him during training with team seven, it had to be at least fairly urgent, not anything he could ignore until a more opportune time. But how to get away...

It turned out to be fairly simple. All he had to do was utilize the incompetent nature that the others considered him in firm possession of. He pretended to notice the noise, and then dashed away to meet his agent and conclude the interview before the others could catch up.

Sneaking up behind his masked subordinate, he tapped him on the shoulder. He was captain, and torturing his subordinates _was_ collateral for all the stress someone in his position had to deal with, after all. ANBU balance being all that stood between him and a humiliating fall, Naruto chuckled as the elite shinobi started before inclining his head to his taicho, handing him a scroll and disappearing in a 'whoosh' of smoke.

Stowing the scroll safely inside his orange jacket, the diminutive ANBU captain left a Kage Bushin to wait for the rest of his team, before quickly skimming the missive and then flitting hurriedly away through the trees.

oOoOoOo

Kakashi entered the clearing to see Naruto glaring at a broken branch, still entangled in the tree, swaying slightly in the breeze.

"It was only the stupid branch." Naruto pouted petulantly. "Not anything interesting."

"You shouldn't have run off." Kakashi admonished sternly.

"Gomen, Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto looked abashed, but grinned none the less.

"Let's all get back to training, now. After lunch, we have a mission."

Naruto skipped ahead enthusiastically, shouting in triumph, his glaring teammates following him back to the training ground.

Kakashi sent one glance back at the broken limb, eyes narrowed. What he had heard was no coincidence. It was an ANBU signal.

oOoOoOo

Naruto knocked on the door to the Hokage's office, his frown set firmly in place. Normally a cheerful person by nature, despite what most people thought, Naruto could be serious. His obnoxious behavior was a mask in and of itself. Naruto had convinced himself it was so no one would guess his true strength, but the few who knew him well recognized it for what it was: a psychological barrier against further rejection; a subconscious way of telling the villagers that if they didn't want to know Naruto as Naruto, they weren't going to be allowed to.

Naruto had taken off his jumpsuit to reveal the standard ANBU uniform. The bandages on his sleeves were a dark blue, however, as were the ones wrapped around his shins. He had a weapons bag attached to each leg, as well several on a loose black belt around his waist. His katana was strapped to his back, and his fox mask was hanging from the Aqua colored hilt.

"Enter, Kitsune-taicho." The Hokage called.

Naruto slid open the door, and walked into the room swiftly, offering the elderly man a slight bow before plopping into a chair.

"You called, Jiji-sama?" The blond raised an eyebrow.

"I did." The old man got up from his desk and gazed out the window. "A bridge builder called Tazuna has requested a team to escort him back to him home in Wave Country, a task that should be a C-rank mission. However, things become more complicated in and of the fact that Gato is involved. The subsequent danger makes this a mission for a jounin at the very least. And yet I cannot send one without arousing suspicion. I have an informant in Gato's circle, and if it was found out that I knew of his plans to attack the bridge builder, things would become ... _complicated_. You understand my predicament, Naruto."

"And informant. Why?" The blonde's voice was calculating.

"Because the Akatsuki are also involved." The old man looked at Naruto wearily. "They're receiving funding from Gato. There is something more sinister going on in Wave Country than an egotistical crime lord."

"I know what you want, so don't even bother asking." Naruto scowled. "Don't blame me if they find out, Jiji-sama. Sensei is already suspicious."

"The Akatsuki need to be investigated, Naruto. I must know if their presence in wave Country has a reason beyond an easily intimidated benefactor." The old man insisted. "Don't worry too much about them finding out; Kakashi was in the ANBU you know, and you _do _outrank them." The man's eyes twinkled before he became regretful. "I'm sorry to put you in this position, Kitsune."

"Don't worry about it, old man." The boy turned to leave, but stopped in the doorway. The Hokage could see the mischievous smile. "When I get back, though, you owe me ramen. Ja ne!" He put his mask on and swept out the door.

oOoOoOo

The team watched as the lady cooed at her missing cat, and shuddered. Sakura summed up the thoughts if the entire group in saying that she understood why it ran away in the first place.

Though the others were bored with the missions, frustrated and wanting something more, Naruto really didn't mind them aside from the fact that they prevented him from spending his time in a more productive manner. As an ANBU, his night workload certainly wasn't light, so aside from the pointlessness of the D-rank tasks, it was nice to have a break.

Of course, the old man he was forced to call Hokage had decided that Naruto would throw a fit and ask for more complicated missions. Naruto sighed, he didn't mind pretending to be stupid, and he often acted obnoxious, but he didn't like acting _that _bratty. Not that the Hokage had given Naruto much of a choice over the years. The Hokage summoned him at inopportune times on a regular basis, so Naruto was forced to make trouble so he would be sent to get reprimanded by the old man. Naruto swallowed his pride and prepared to humiliate himself, deciding that his public image couldn't sink much lower anyway. The joy of being ANBU.

oOoOoOo

Kakashi frowned at his student's outburst, wondering why in the world the Hokage was smiling.

"Very well, Naruto. Team 7, you will receive a C-class mission." The Hokage announced. He raised a hand to Iruka's protests. "They have a jounin with them, and they are not wholly incompetent."

The academy teacher scowled, then fell silent. The Hokage introduced their client to them, then asked Iruka to wait with Tazuna outside. He waited for the door to shut completely before he started speaking again.

"There is one thing that you need to know before I send you on this mission."

Kakashi nodded, waiting for the man to continue.

"Your presence is merely a front. There is something deeper at work. Tazuna seeks protection from a ruthless man called Gota, who is involved with some who pose a very great danger to us. However, since Tazuna asked for Gennin and nothing more, that is all I can officially send. However, you will be accompanied. Enter, Kitsune."

A shadow slipped through the window, and suddenly one of the ANBU had taken his place beside the Sandaime.

The first thing Kakashi noticed was that the boy [he was too short to be anything else] was wearing a fox mask [it made sense with the boy's code name, after all], and the second thing he noticed was the shaggy blond hair, exactly the same shade as his student's [and Minato's, that torturing voice in the back of his head whispered]. Both of these things seemed very significant, but he just couldn't place them, and that bothered him. The third thing Kakashi noticed was the navy blue. Kitsune was a captain.

"Kitsune will be shadowing you to your destination, unless dire need forces him out. You will not mention his presence, least of all to Tazuna-san. If he tells you to do something, you will do it, without question. Once you reach the village, he has some other business to attend to, but other than that, he will stay relatively close at hand." He nodded to the team and the ANBU. "Dismissed."

"ANBU-san." Kakashi spoke softly, knowing that the masked captain could hear every word. "Were you the one signaling earlier in the forest?"

The ANBU shook his head, and disappeared.

* * *

**So what think you? Sorry that it's short, but my life is pretty hectic right now, and since I have some written ahead I want to regulate how much I post at one time so that you can have semi regular updates. Please review, whether you're in love with it, in the middle, or hate it completely (though I'd appreciate 'You did awful but here's how to improve' rather than 'you stink like dead pretzels you nutcracker!')**. **Thank you for your time!**


	2. Opposition

**Before you get started PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU GET STARTED, BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T YOU'LL BE PRETTY DANG CONFUSED:**

-A note on how ANBU is my story is organized: Do any of you watch bleach? If you do, this will be a lot easier to explain. Here's how I see it. The ANBU is broken up into several devisions/squads (ex. torture and interrogation, a healing squad, and other regular mission squads) with about three-six people in each. each of these squads is lead by a lieutenant (shousa) whose second in command is called a 'san'i'. As Captian of all the ANbu squads, Naruto controls them all, but he has his own squad with whom he goes on missions, consisting of his vice-captain, who is second in command of the squads, as well as the third-seat (third strongest aNBU) and fourth seat (fourth-strongest). The captain, of course, answers only to the Hokage.

-also note: In my 'verse, since the ANBU captain answers only to hokage, said captain outranks all jounin, chunnin, genin, etc. Same goes for fukutaicho and sanseke, fourth seat, and shousa (san'i can do this in a shousa's stead). regular rank and file ANBU members aren't licensed to order anyone around who is a special jounin, but anything else goes. This being said, this whole whacked out 'command-of-non-anbu' is all with the understanding that the hokage can take away this privilege at any time.

Unfortunately, if you're not in ANBU, even if you have worked your butt of for years to become the most bestest jounin in the history of jounin, you don't get to boss around nobody besides your gennin team (maybe a chunnin team if the 'kage tells you to). the privilege of gleefully threatening others with insubordination is unfortunately served for ANBU, and hokage. this being said, it is just common sense to do something if a special jounin/jounin tells you to do it, because being stubborn and not listening because the law doesn't require you to is a suckish way to die, doncha think?

**Disclaimer: Don't sue me. Do I look like I own it? (If you know what I look like, then I'm suing **_**you.**_**)**

The Gennin team walked through the calm forest, with Kitsune trailing behind them.

He cursed as he saw the puddle, tensing for an attack, even as he knew that he shouldn't interfere. He scowled; the demon brothers. They were a nuisance, nothing more, so understandably Kakashi let the three Gennin alone for a while to see how they would do.

Unfortunately, the first to be targeted was Naruto's Kage Bushin. One hit and the clone would pop, dispelled, and then the kuso would really hit the fan. Naruto cursed, and put a henge on his clothes and hair. He quickly performed the replacement technique, dispelling the clone that was now in his place in the woods. He allowed himself to be nicked and immediately regretted it as he felt the poison in the wound. Sighing internally, he let Sasuke to free him, interested to see what the other boy could do.

Predictably, the silver haired jounin stepped in just in time, easily fettering the two aggressors to a nearby tree. Then he turned to his students.

"I'm sorry you were injured, Naruto. I would have intervened, but I thought that you could dodge." The man informed him. He turned to his other pupil. "Good job, Sasuke."

The ANBU captain internally rolled his eyes at his Sensei's purposefully poorly veiled slight.

"Are you hurt, scaredy cat?" His teammate smirked.

Naruto made himself look a mix between resentful and determined. Inside though, Kitsune was annoyed, borderline disgusted. For the boy to so mockingly disregard an injured team member; Naruto knew that meant death in the field. Granted, this was no where hear the intensity of something a Chunin would encounter, and that Naruto hadn't really done anything but sit there and look surprised, and yes, Sasuke was still just a boy [albeit a brooding, emotionally scared one], but it was worrying none the less.

"Naruto, you've been poisoned." Kakashi pointed out. He had finished interrogating Tazuna for the information that they already knew. "Try not to move to much before we get back to the village."

"We're going back to the village? What about the mission?" Naruto exclaimed. He needed to get to Wave Country, and if his Gennin team went back to the village, it would be extremely hard, almost impossible, to maintain a convincing shadow clone for that amount of time. He could not let the team go back; he would not fail.

"Why don't we let someone more experienced handle it; if Naruto's poisoned..." Sakura trailed off, obviously frightened.

"No." Naruto shot back impatiently. Going back would complicate things too much. He raised his kunai, plunging it into his wound, feeling the poisoned blood seep out. "I'm not going back to the village, and I'm not letting Sasuke-teme beat me."

His whole team [and their client] stared for a moment before Kakashi cleared his throat. "Thank you for being so dedicated, Naruto, but lose anymore blood and you'll probably die from blood loss."

_Liar_, Naruto growled in his head, but started to flip out for the benefit of his Sensei. "I'm not going to die, ne, sensei? I'm too young to die! I can't die!"

"Come here, Naruto, and I'll see what I can do."

Naruto ran over to his teacher, and presented his hand to him.

Kakashi's touch was gentle, but Naruto still flinched. He wasn't used to people touching him except to hurt him, and the only ones whose touch he could be comfortable with were his precious people: The Hokage, the members of ANBU, and sometimes Iruka, as long as it wasn't unexpected. He especially hated it when people held onto his wrists, like his jounin sensei was doing now.

Naruto stood as stiff as a board the whole time, trying hard not to pull away. After what seemed like an eternity, Kakashi let Naruto go. Who forced himself not to bolt from the man, but linger calmly long enough to thank his sensei, than casually move away.

He knew by the slightly narrowing of Kakashi's eyes that his teacher had noticed something off about his façade.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi frowned under his mask. Whatever had just happened wasn't normal. He didn't understand how Naruto even knew that slicing a poisoned wound was a way of getting poison out. And then, when Kakashi was bandaging his hand, he saw the slight hiss as the wound healed closed in a matter of minutes. Ignoring that, the most worrying thing was Naruto's reaction to physical touch.

The boy had actually _flinched_ when Kakashi grasped his wrist. After that, he had stood as stiff as a board the whole time, trying to get a hold of himself but failing miserably. After that, the boy had put on one of the most convincing acts he had ever seen. He had thanked his teacher bashfully and walked very slowly away. Kakashi, however, wasn't a former ANBU shousa for nothing, and could see the tension still present. Even he, however, might not have noticed it if he hadn't been looking.

All this worried Kakashi. He might be a bit stern, a bit lazy, a bit standoff-ish, but not _intimidating_, certainly. At least, not when it came to his students or teammates. Yet, Naruto was afraid of him. Not stinging from his Sensei's reprimand; Kakashi had sensed pure, primal fear when he touched the boy.

Uzumaki Naruto was hiding something, perhaps several things, and Kakashi intended to find out what they were.

* * *

The group settled down to camp, only to find out that the scroll sealing all of their food had been destroyed.

Sakura asked apprehensively whether or not they were going to die, and for the sake of his mask (emotional) Naruto quickly joined in. Kakashi was formerly ANBU, and as such would have no problem with gathering herbs or tracking game. It was deadly for an ANBU not to know wilderness survival. Naruto wondered what Kakashi's decision would be, before analyzing the situation and coming to the conclusion that Kakashi wasn't going to do anything because Kakashi couldn't do anything. Sakura, the bridge builder, Sasuke, and presumably Naruto were all deadweight, and you didn't drag deadweight off into the forest when there were dangerous missing nin running around, even if it was for food. It would be practically asking for an ambush, so even though the area felt clear enough, Kakashi was not going to risk his team and their client just for the alleviation of one night's discomfort.

Now that he had predicted the copy-nin's actions, it was time for Naruto to make his own choice. He could, for the safety of the mission, just leave the whole food issue be and deal with grumpy and food-deprived Gennin teammates tomorrow. His second choice was to be selfish and have his ANBU persona drop off a neighborly rabbit, thus revealing himself to Tazuna and any unfriendly eyes that happened to be watching.

As he listened to Sakura cry and watched the Uchiha glare, Naruto decided that self-lessness was overrated. If there really was anyone in the area, Kakashi and Naruto would have most likely sensed them by now. Even if there was someone in the area to learn of Naruto's presence, it was feasible [though unlikely] that after the attack Kakashi could've called for backup from Konoha. Tazuna, well, he would just have to deal. Naruto switched places with his Kage Bushin, taking out his wire and beginning to lay the trap.

After one successful hunting trip and a half an hour of rigorous scouting later, Naruto walked wearily toward the camp, neglecting more sophisticated and stealthy ways of travel for the sole reason of wanting Kakashi to know he was coming. The man was enough on edge that, though Naruto could dodge anything that man threw with his eyes closed, it would be cruel to toy with the jounin's nerves. Kitsune figured that an ANBU appearing behind him from out of nowhere wouldn't do wonders for his Sensei's mental state.

* * *

Kakashi was just about at his wits end when he felt the captain's presence moving steadily toward him. Everyone was tired and ornery from hunger. Sakura was shouting at Naruto for the nick he had somehow given Sasuke during sparring, Naruto was yelling back, and Sasuke was glaring daggers at them both. The old man was sitting on a log a few yards away, rubbing his tired feet and muttering to himself about obnoxious kids.

The copy-nin pinched the bridge of his nose; he could feel a pressure headache beginning to form. He wondered distractedly what Kitsune-taicho could possibly want as he tried to keep Sakura from killing Naruto, Naruto from killing Sasuke, and Sasuke from killing both of them.

* * *

Sakura looked up from yelling at Naruto as Kitsune-san walked into the clearing. She barely registered Tazuna's frightened questions and Kakashi-sensei's calm explanation as she realized that the elite shinobi was headed straight towards her.

He was carrying four dead rabbits, two to a string and one string per shoulder, as well as firewood in one hand and five full canteens in the other.

Setting the rabbits and the water on a handy log en route, he stopped half way too her, motioning her over while drilling into the ground with some strange sort of wind sphere. Once he was done, he dropped the wood in the pit and handed her the flint. He nodded to her, and left to skin the rabbits.

She blushed. He was cute. She hadn't really paid attention to him in the Hokage's office, but she couldn't help but notice how attractive he was; the ANBU uniform showed of his muscles, and his hair was to die for. I such a pretty, golden color, [the same as Naruto's, Inner Sakura whispered reproachfully], and it had two long strands in the front, and was short but shaggy in the back, almost like Sasuke's. He moved so gracefully too. Her blush deepened as he turned and caught her staring. She piled up the sticks, her mind buzzing with a multitude of questions. She liked Sasuke-kun, right? And why did the ANBU seem so familiar?

Sakura threw down the flint angrily, frustrated at her inability to light a simple fire. She huffed and glared at the tinder. The one time she had gotten the stupid flint to spark, the fire on the wood had just sputtered and died out.

She felt the too familiar hopelessness and self-loathing wash over her, and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. She was so useless!

She started as someone gently replaced the flint into her hands, before going around behind her and encircling her with two strong arms, warm and calloused hands encircling her own. Kitsune guided her, showing her how to scrape the rocks to make them spark. He moved her hands several times in the pattern before releasing her and moving towards the fire pit, gesturing for her to join him. She scurried over and kneeled by his side.

Next, he showed her how to correctly arrange the sticks it, patiently pointing out and fixing the errors in her rickety constructions until her pyramid was strong and stable enough to light.

She took up the flint with trembling fingers and scraped the two rocks together just as she had been shown.

She felt a bubble of elation grow inside her when she made a spark, and full out grinned when the tinder went ablaze. She had done it! She laughed and thanked the small ANBU, and for some odd reason, she knew he was grinning warmly back.

* * *

Cicada's chirped in the heat of the summer, their buzzing wings setting Naruto on edge. He tugged irritably at his jumpsuit's jacket. The walk to Tazuna's house was long, and the sun was already at it's height.

'It's way too hot to be dressed like this,' He thought with a moan. 'Stupid jacket, stupid tattoo, stupid sensei!'

Naruto knew that he sounded like a petulant child, but he really didn't care; he _was _still a child, and anyone would be petulant if they were being **roasted alive**. The humidity of wave country made it that much worse, but unfortunately, the jacket was the only thing between prying eyes and his ANBU tattoo. Genjutsu was completely out of the question; Kakashi was sure to notice. He cursed whoever thought of the infernal thing. It really was stupid to **permanently mark** those whose true identified were a **secret**.

"_**There's a good reason why, Kit, and you know it."**_

'Oh shove off Biju.' Naruto rolled his (internal) eyes. 'Why couldn't you have just stayed asleep?'

"_**Welcome back to you too, **_**Kitsune-taicho. **_**Act your rank, for once." **_The great fox was always in a horrible mood whenever she awoke from a long nap. _**"Where the hell are we, and what's going on?"**_

'That's what you get for sleeping for three months, lazy –ass.' The Captain retorted. 'We're on a mission to Wave with my Genin team. You missed my graduation, by the way.'

"_**Wow, you actually managed to graduate after your **_**third **_**try? What an outstanding achievement, kit!" **_She snarked back.

'I only _act _stupid, teme-baka-chan. I was supposed to fail the first two.'

"_**Sure, you only **_**act **_**dumb." **_The Kyuubi snorted. _**"So what poor teammates and instructor got saddled with you?"**_

'Oh, don't be sorry for _them._' Naruto hissed as his mood darkened that much more. 'Sakura and Sasuke. Shut up, yorou.'

The Kyuubi's laughter reverberated in her cage. _**"And your instructor?"**_

'Hatake Kakashi.'

The great demon sobered. _**"Kuso. How much has he noticed?"**_

'That's the thing! It's so hard to tell!' Naruto admitted, frustrated. 'The man was a shousa, _and_ he wears a friggin' face mask!'

_**"How much do you think that you've slipped?"**_

'The only time I can think of is when he was bandaging my wound...' Naruto replied, than 'spoke' again, almost too low for the Kyuubi to hear. 'He held on to my wrist.'

_**"Oh, Kit!" **_The biju breathed sympathetically. Certainly not for the first time, the demon cursed the villagers for what their cruelty had wrought on the only family she had left. _**"I'm so sorry..."**_

'Don't be!' He admonished almost automatically, but not lacking conviction. 'It's not your fault, Kyuu-chan.'

_**"I know, Kitsune. I know."**_

The fox and her tenant moved to lighter topics, until the ANBU's senses screamed in warning and he slammed his mental shields up, blocking out Kyuubi's panicked inquires. His eyes narrowed. _Zabuza. _He couldn't reveal Zabuza or Haku just yet. That would tip off the Akatsuki, and there weren't even words to describe the sheer amount of **problem** that such an action would generate. All he could do was throw a kunai at the rabbit and hope that Kakashi could come close enough to killing Zabuza that Haku was able to intervene.

Ten minutes later, that saw Naruto scowling deeply in his head, it was quite apparent that Kakashi _couldn't_ handle this on his own. Instead, he was trapped in a dome of water, yelling desperately at his students and client to run away while a Mizu-bushin advanced slowly toward them, the malicious grin on its face practically oozing KI.

"_**He's laying it on a bit thick," **_The Kyuubi stretched with a yawn. _**"Looks like you have two choices, gaki. Confess that Zabuza works for Konoha and hope nobody blabs or let him kill Hatake." **_

'Kuso!' Kitsune scowled, pointedly ignoring the fox. 'How did that man ever attain the rank of shousa?' More of a rhetorical question. Kitsune knew that if Kakashi were free of 'baggage' he would have disposed of the nukenin in nine seconds flat. Add hopelessly incompetent innocents, and you wound up sitting pretty in a water dome just waiting for the sadistic yarou to finish you off. Kitsune's eyes narrowed as he settled on a plan. 'Which is why we need to make the innocents that much less incompetent.'

Unfortunately, Sasuke chose that moment to charge forward, and Naruto had to suppress the urge to find a nice solid brick wall to bash his head on. That was something stupid enough that only his 'idiot' mask would do it. He stuck out a foot, and watched the clan heir fall to the ground.

_**"Childish, Kit."**_ The Kyuubi's voice wormed its way into his thoughts.

'But _so_ worth it.'

"What did you do that for, _dobe_?" The enraged Uchiha hissed lividly.

"You're the dobe if you think that you could take him on, _teme_!" The blonde growled back. "We have to work together if we want to free Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke glowered at Naruto, but grudgingly nodded. "What do you have in mind, dobe?"

The other boy treated him to a fox like grin and whispered the plan into his ear.

* * *

During the heat of the battle, Naruto took the opportunity of replacing himself with a shadow clone. He relaxed against the tree, dissolving the henge on his clothes and hair, revealing his ANBU gear. Making sure to hide his presence, he watched a bit of the fight, but mostly the 'hunter nin.' Behind Haku's mask, he could see his eyes flicker over to him, and tipped his head in a silent gesture of 'thanks.' Naruto shrugged as if to say 'no problem,' and with a final acknowledging nod Haku slipped down to do his part.

As soon as the pair left, Naruto followed her down just in time to catch his sensei as the exhausted copy nin fell toward the ground.

Kakashi cursed in his head as he felt himself falling. Maybe he used a little too much chakra? It had been hard, with students to protect, but now he was reaping the wonderful consequences. Preparing for cold impact on the ground he opened blurry eyes as he felt thin arms stop the fall. There was a flash of gold as he was lowered to the forest floor.

"Sensei?" He moaned. No, that couldn't be right. Too small to be sensei.. something in his brain clicked. "Nar'to?"

"Over here!" A voice chirped, and he turned his head slowly. All his tired eyes could make out was a hazy blob of bright gold and eye shocking orange. So it was Kitsune-taicho then.

There was something significant about all this same-hair-business, Kakashi's brain insisted, right before the world went black and he passed out cold.

* * *

**YAY. I was just re-reading the story, and I realized that when I though that I had changed chapter two (to make it fit with the plot later on), I must have changed a different chapter instead, or just never replaced it or something. Good thing I finally caught on.**


	3. Suspicion

**AN: This chapter is dedicated to all those who have ever harbored severe homicidal urges toward their alarm clocks. If only we were ninja…..**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it.**

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* * *

**

'_Beep. Beep. Beep.' The alarm fizzled, buzzed, crackled with brief currents of electricity, and promptly died as a kunai was thrown expertly into its obnoxious center. Naruto groaned. As satisfying as it was, it was no use; he was already awake. As he plodded to the shower, he briefly toyed with the idea of just going back to bed an__d arriving just before Hatake; he had been out on a mission until two, and he still ached where that one mist ANBU had gotten in a luck y hit.. The Kyuubi was asleep, so it was taking twice as long to heal as it normally would. As appealing as the idea sounded, he eventually decided against it. Such an action would be deemed to 'smart' for the 'dobe', and this 'academy infiltration mission', _was_ still a mission. He had only failed a mission once, and he didn't intend to ever again, even if this was the most inane and arbitrary mission anyone could ever conceive. _

'_Jiji-sama-baka really is going senile.' Naruto groused, scowling at the orange jumpsuit folded neatly on his bureau. As soon as this assignment was over, he was going to burn it. Until then, he would just have to put up with it, since it was the only thing the villagers would sell 'the demon.' There were only three good things about the abomination: it was great for stealth practice (if he could hide in bright orange, he could hide in anything), it made him look like a complete idiot (though most wouldn't consider that a good thing, he mused with a quiet laugh), and it annoyed the hell out of Ibiki (his favorite pastime, second only to pranking with Anko, though on t=any given day the two most likely went hand in hand). _

_He slipped out of the shower, and as he was dressing, hit the intercom button on the wall._

"_**Mitarashi-san'i' here."**_ _Came a groggy, annoyed, voice. "__**Can I help you?"**_

"_Yo." He replied. "I have to spend a day with my team, so before I go I just wanted to know if your mission was a success or not."_

"_**Do you know what freakin' time it is, gaki-taicho?"**__She snarked out of habit, before cackling. "__**And as to my mission, Ibiki won't be able to get the color out of his skin for weeks!**__"_

"_Excellent. Wonderful work, Anko-san'i'!" Naruto smirked. "Does the target know yet?"_

"_**The target's passed out, sleeping like a baby in the main lobby." **__Anko chortled evilly. __**"All it took was a coupla' shot of sake and he was out cold. Such a lightweight.**__"_

_Naruto snickered as he pulled on his sandals. "You up for dango tonight?"_

"_**That even a question? It's on you though, for waking me up so early."**_

"_Blame Hatake." Naruto grumbled. "I'll meet you in the cantine at seven. Couldja' do me a favor?"_

"_**Depends." **_

"_I just need you to let the quarter master know that I need another clock."_

"_**Again!" **__She laughed. "__**That's the fifth one this month. Genkoro's gonna be pissed.**__"_

"_Probably." Naruto agreed. "But what can he do? Thanks, Anko-nee-chan. See you at seven."_

"_**No problem, otouto-gaki**__." She laughed. "__**Have fun with your team**__." The line cut of. _

_He smiled ruefully and disappeared in a whisp of smoke. _

_True to his prediction, he and his teammates were forced to spend three hours waiting for their errant sensei to arrive. _

"_YOU'RE LATE!" The two fair haired pre-teens yelled angrily. _

"_Maa, Maa." He held up one hand in what Kitsune took to be a placating gesture, scratching the back of his head sheepishly with the other. "A raccoon stole my hitai-ate off my porch." _

"_LIAR!" Sakura and Naruto shouted again, and their new instructor sweat dropped. He let the silence hang awkwardly before continuing on._

"_See these two bells?" They nodded as he jingled them. "Whoever gets them gets to eat lunch. If you don't get a bell by time runs out, you get tied to post, I eat in front of you, and you get sent back to the academy."_

"_Matte! Sensei!" Sakura called out. "There are only two bells!"_

"_Exactly." He gave them what was, from all they could tell, was a smirk. "Come at me with the intent to kill, or you'll never get a bell."_

"_Alright!" Naruto roared, rushing towards the teacher. "Let's do this, Kaka-sensei!"_

_Before the genin could blink, Kakashi had Naruto's hand twisted behind his back, holding his own kunai to the back of his head. "Aren't you eager. Maybe you're actually taking me seriously, ne? Too bad I didn't say start yet." He released the boy and hit a button on the alarm clock. _

_Naruto sighed. He had really thought that they were smarter than this. Considering that shinobi worked in three man cells as genin and usually chunnin. Along with the fact that the one thing Iruka had drilled (quite literally, in Naruto's case) into their heads above all else was 'teamwork' and the fact that the test was screaming 'promotion of self-interest, they should have been tipped off right away. He had thought the Kunoichi had understood when she questioned the number of bells, but he put it down to outrageously misplaced optimism as he watched the Uchiha hurl several kunai at the masked jounin. _

'_As if that's going to work. Does he really think that he can defeat a special jounin __**by himself?**__' Naruto thought incredulously. 'And I thought the academy was bad….' He hoped to high heaven that if the passed, which didn't really look to be an option at this point, that the Hokage would at least let him keep doing night missions. If he was forced to spend all his time interacting with such non-subtlety, his brain would go as soft as cottage cheese. _

_He sighed as he watched Sasuke get buried under ground, and Sakura faint. Even thought he really would rather not, he wanted the other two to pass. They both obviously needed it. Sakura had major focus and self-confidence issues, and as for Sasuke, the last Uchiha was a cold, arrogant, stubborn time-bomb. Getting sent back to the Academy wasn't going to teach them teamwork. He could try his best, but he had played his part too well for too long. Sasuke would listen to someone with such 'inferior' intellect, and Sakura, smart-as she was, only listened to Sasuke. 'Only listens to Sasuke…..' A slow foxy grin spread over Naruto's face. Had they seen it, Anko would have cackled in delight, and Ibiki would've run like hell. Kitsune-taicho had a plan._

* * *

"_Oi, Sasuke-teme, Sakura-chan has a plan!" _

"_What do you mean, dobe?"_

_Naruto snickered. It was hilarious to see the boy try to look down at Naruto whilst being buried in the ground. "I __**mean**__, teme, that she has a plan to get the bells from Kaka-sensei. I distract him, Sakura casts a genjutsu, and you grab them."_

"_Hn." The Uchiha turned his head away (as much as one can when they're buried up to their neck in dirt), and Naruto let himself laugh again. _

"_I'f you don't want to help, then I guess I'll just have to leave you here and me and Sakura-chan will get the bells by ourself. It's a shame that you're going back to the academy. Well, ja ne, _dobe_."_

"_Matte!" _

_Naruto's head whipped around, and Sasuke stared intently at the ground as he continued. "I'll help you, just as long as you get me out of here and give me a bell. I'll help you." _

_Naruto let a slow smile stretch over his face. _

_

* * *

_

"_Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan! Wake up, Sakura-chan!"_

_Sakura groaned as she slowly worked her way toward conciousness. She opened her eyes and found herself face to face with Naruto Uzumaki. She stared for a moment, then opened her mouth and screamed. _

_Kitsune winced, cursing his over sensitive ears. "Shhh, Sakura-chan! Kaka-sensei will hear you and you'll get us caught. Then we won't be able to do Sasuke-teme's plan."_

_Predictably, the kunoichi's brain only registered one thing. "Sasuke-kun has a plan?" _

"_Yup. He sent me to find you while he sets everything up. He told us to meet him…." Naruto let himself babble on as they walked toward the meeting spot, only half laying attention to what he was saying. He allowed himself a small, foxy, grin. His ruse had worked, the three of them would be genin soon, and Sasuke and Sakura would be none the wiser to who's idea this 'plan' really was. _

* * *

_Kakashi stood in the clearing, reading his book. He glanced at the clock on the stump. _

'_Not much time left, kiddies. Hmmm. I wonder if I should even bother tying them to the stump this time, or if I should just send them home. I have a lot of laundry to get done… So disappointing, every year. My records book is going to be full soon. I wonder if that means the Hokage will have to stop assigning me teams or if he'll just get another one.' Kakashi let his thoughts idle, until a strange feeling came over him, that everything was alright, that he didn't need to be on his guard, like he could just fall asleep…._

'_Academy Genjutsu..' The awake part of his brain supplied immediately, and after that, he didn't even have to work to fight it. He didn't dispel it though. He wanted to see how this would play out. The one who was most likely casting it was Sakura, and he had already taken her out of commission. _

_He identified another presence in the brush: Sasuke.. So at least two of them were working together. Not what he had been expecting. Sakura would follow Saskue's lead without heasitation, but for the taciturn boy to actually ask for help…._

_He felt a large chakra pulse, and several more bodies appeared on his internal 'radar.' _

'_Kage Bushin? So Naruto is in on this as well. All three of them are working together!' Techinically they had already passed, but he decided to let things play out as they were. 'Lets see what they do when it's time to divide the bells…'_

_He waited to cancel the pinkette's genjustsu until the Kage Bushin were practically on top of him._

_He smirked to himself as he saw Sasuke's look of disgust as he henged himself into Naruto and joined the fray. He allowed one of the 'Bushin' to grab the bells._

_Sasuke henged into himself and tossed the bell in Sakura's direction. "Here."_

_She squealed in happiness, jumping up and down. __**Sasuke-kun**__ had given her the bell. She had __**passed**__. Then she glanced back at Naruto._

_The boy was smiling at her sadly. "It's okay Sakura-chan, don't worry about me. This isn't the frist time I've failed, and Iruka-sensei will probably let me back in…. even if he doesn't, I can work as Ichiraku or something, 'ttebayo. You worked hard for your bell." _

_Sakura bit her lip, glancing between Sasuke and Naruto. _

"_That's not fair." She said finally, holdering her bell out for Kakashi to take. "Naruto worked just as hard, and if he fails ….. Then I- I fail to!"_

"_Are you sure?" Kakashi asked her, his visible eye calculating. _

_She swallowed, ignoring the fact that Naruto was gaping like a fish. "Yes."_

"_And you, Sasuke?" The teachers gaze was inscruitable. _

"_There's no point in being on a team by myself. I won't get any stronger sparring alone." He tossed his bell at Kakashi. "Pass us all or fail us I'll, I can just try again next year."_

"_Are you sure?" The teacher asked, breaking out into (from what they could tell) a large grin. "Because that means that you all pass."_

_The three of them began to jump up and down. Naruto grinned broadly, and for once in all his years of being 'Naruto' it was real. _

* * *

_As they were cheering, the landscape shimmered, and the colors became bright, hazy, distorted. The world twisted.**_

_"Whose plan was it?" The big booming voice of the teacher. Too loud. Too loud._

_"Sasuke's!"_

_"Sakura's!" _

_Answering at the same time? Wait! He'll know! He'll know!_

_The teacher towers over him, and he can't move. His feet are stuck, and he can't move. Lookinf down, why! He shouldn't be in his anbu uniform, he shouldn't have the mask! The mask is crumbling , and, looking up, the one dark eye is furious, angry, scaared hating._

_"You've been keeping secrets! Telling lies!" The angry eye yells, and he tries to talk back, but his mouth is trapped, glued like his feet, and he can't move. "Dangerous power for a demon! Too much power for a monster, always telling lies!"_

_"Liar, Liar." The boy and girl hiss._

_Can't get a way, waiting for the blow. And It's coming, coming. Can't get away, and the mask crumbled._

_**"What are you hiding?"**_

Naruto shot into conciousness, hand flying to the kunai under his pillow without thought. Once he was ceartain that there was noone in the room besides his slumbering, he let his gaurd down the slightest bit. There wasn't anymore, but there had been. He sniffed; Kakashi.

And that led him back into his dream. He shuddered. His mind had taken the memory of the bell test, and had immediatley warped it after they had started to cheer, playing on one of his biggest fears. He knew how close he had come to bbeing revealed that day. It was well worth the risk, and he was used to taking them (you did't live very long in Anbu iwthout doing so), but if Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura had even broached he subject... He took a deep suddering breath.

He got up silently, slipping his kunai up his sleeve. It was just Kakashi, he would'nt need it, but having a weapon always made him feel better. He slinked out of the room, moving soundlessly down the hall.

He peered into the darkened room of his teacher. All the signs indicated that he was asleep. His breathing was deep and slow, his heart beat matching. He forced his taught muscles to relax. The man was probably checking up and Sasuke and him before he retired for the night.

He never noticed the pair of eyes, one brown and one a swirling red, that followed him out of the door.

* * *

**** Up to this point, Naruto has been dreaming of the genin test. This is the point where Naruto's dream deviates from his memory of what actually happened, and his subconscious twists in a reflection of what he fears is going to happen and what could've happened. Sorry if its confusing.**

**So now we know that Kakashi knows, and that Naruto know that Kakashi knows, but noone (me included) knows how much he knows or if he knows that Naruto knows that he knows.**

**Thanks to all my readers, sorry it took so long. Please, leave your thoughts/feelings/comments In a review.**

**Ja ne!**

**Bard**


	4. Explanation

**AN: ****Here is an update for all my patient readers. You are lucky that I am a procrastinator, or you wouldn't have gotten this. Finals are fast approaching, and I am screwed.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. If he did…. We're not going to go there…..**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 4: Explanation**

***I changed chapter two so that the whole Haku Zabuza thing would work. Most of it stayed the same, I just tweaked it a bit. So if things don't make sense later on, that is why. Also, regarding pairings, the only one I'm considering doing is NaruSaku, but I'm not sure that I can pull it off… I'll go away now.***

Piercing blue scanned the multiple piles of crates, covertly, since the navy blue eyes of the dock worker he had henged into weren't supposed to be observant. Whistling as he went, the worker casually sauntered over to one of the more secluded piles, and with a rather malicious 'thump' plopped down onto one of the crates . He set aside his lantern, pulled off his gloves and took out a pack of cigarettes. He leaned back and took a drag.

It wasn't long before he was joined by another crate hauler, large in build, but moving perhaps a tad more gracefully than he ought. The first raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing. Instead, he offered a smoke, which the other declined.

At length, the first spoke. "What do you make of the weather, friend?"

"This nights watch is dull." The other replied calmly, catching his companion's eye.

The first nodded, leaning back and taking a deep drag of his cigarette. Closing his eyes and rubbing his temple, he spoke wearily. "How is your brother?"

"Frustrated." The second smiled briefly. "You know how all the employers these days are. He's almost ready to quit."

"Who's his boss?" The query was decidedly disinterested.

"One of them high up merchant fellas. Rich. Name starts with a G, I think."

The other nodded, and they remained silent until ten minutes after the last of the workers had drifted out.

"So," Naruto asked, flicking his cancer stick into the water with disgust. "Where's Zabuza?"

"I believe," Haku grinned and the crate beneath Naruto groaned in agitation. "That you are sitting on him."

True to Haku's word, there was a slight 'puff', and Naruto was suddenly perched upon the back of a very annoyed demon of the mist.

"Terribly sorry, Zabuza-san," Naruto smirked. "I had no idea."

"Teme." Zabuza glared at the snickering ANBU, rubbing his sore back and sitting on a crate of his own. "I'm still healing you know. Is there any reason you felt the need to sit on me for two hours?"

"Because, Zabuza," Naruto grinned. "You make an outstanding crate."

Zabuza chose to ignore him. "How's the old codger?"

"Going to get it for not telling me that I was going to have to work with you." Naruto replied. "But for now, still alive, kicking, and pissing Danzo and the rest of the council creeps off. How's working for Gato?"

"I'm just about ready to bite the little midget's head off!"

Seeing as this was Zabuza, he didn't doubt that this urge was in quite a literal sense. "Learned anything useful about our cloaked friends?"

"Depends on what you deem useful."

"Everything. Tell me everything."

* * *

Kakashi rubbed his forehead, letting his hand drop down tiredly after he was trough. His hand brushed the ground, and he lightly traced a pattern in the dirt. If his genin could see him now, hanging upside-down from a tree….. He gave a mental shrug. They already thought that he was insane, and maybe he was, just a bit.

He grinned predatorily as his prey (_Student. _He reminded himself. _The socially accepted term would be student._) approached through the trees.

"You wanted to see me, Kaka-sensei?" He asked energetically. "You're gonna teach me a super cool justsu, ne, Sensei!"

"You can drop the act, Naruto, I know who you are, and what you're hiding. I think we should talk when you get back."

"What-?" The clone was dispelled in a single hit from the Chidori.

* * *

"Kuso!" Naruto cursed, before Zabuza could reply. "Damn that man! Inu no baka!"

"What's wrong, Gaki?"

Naruto scowled at a mildly (not that either of them would _ever_ admit it) concerned Zabuza. "Hatake just dispelled my bushin, the yorou! As if this wasn't hard enough before! And he wants to have a 'talk' when we get back." He looked up sheepishly. "Sorry. Please, continue."

Zabuza just rolled his eyes. "Haku, report."

The bishonen obediently took out a scroll. On it was a map of Gato's compound, with a small tunnel trailing off its edge. "As far as we can tell, the tunnel leads to the Akatsuki base. There are only two that we have heard Gato speak of. We have never met them, but we know that they have intimidated Gato into funding them. We hypothesize that they mean to wait until Gato finished taking over the country, then depose him."

"What do you think that they want with it?" Naruto turned to Zabuza. "Not funding, they'd keep Gato for that."

"We haven't gotten that far yet. The pair that we met before are returning to talk to gato tomorrow. Haku and I will see them again then."

"Haku will see them." Naruto grinned.

"Yes." Zabuza replied.

Suddenly, there were two Haku standing on the deck, one wearing a large, fox-like grin. "Perfect."

* * *

"Are you sure that this is going to work?" Kitsune-who-was-really-Haku-under-henge asked his clone companion. "If they catch him…"

"They won't catch me- him-," The clone replied. "He's split himself into at least a dozen other clones so that he'll be at about your level of chakra, and as for the henge, they won't notice it because they won't even be looking for it. That's the problem with your average SS-ranked terrorist shinobi; they're so used to intricate traps and plots and high ranked jutsu that its terribly easy to knock them down with the obvious. It only for a day. Do you have your letter?"

"Hai." Zabuza's apprentice fingered the scroll. "Do you think he'll believe it? I am no match for Hatake-san."

"You'll do fine." The clone smiled kindly at him. "All you have to do it be silent and look intimidating and remember not to drop you're henge. Got all that? Here they come!" He dashed over to the group with a sunny smile. Haku's eyes widened under the mask. He didn't know that anyone could talk so fast. "Kaka-sensei! Kaka-sensei! I got lost training in the woods but then Kitsune-san found me and he just came straight out of no where and even _I_ couldn't sense that he was there! Can you do that? You're gonna teach me, ne? 'Cause when I'm Hokage-!"

"Maaa, Maa, Naruto!" Kakashi held up a hand, and the boy quieted, vibrating with energy. " Why don't you go train with Sasuke and Sakura." The two other genin deflated at this and glared at their teacher. He treated them both to a benevolent smile that couldn't be termed anything other than dangerous. They gulped, and stepped down. "I'd like to have a word with Kitsune-taicho."

"Oh, oh! Are you gonna talk about super secret anbu sutff. We're you ever in anbu? I bet they wouldn't let you in 'casue you're too lazy and you're always late and you lie all the time, and-"

"Naruto."

"Yosh, Sensei!"

"Just go train."

Within five seconds after the shinobi in training had been dragged away by the excited blond, Haku found himself flat on the ground, Kakashi sitting on him, the lazy bored expression on his face a great contradiction to the kunai held to the now unmasked and unhenged boy's throat. " Ware, ware. The false hunter-nin. Just when I though t I had things all pegged down. Yesterday it was Naruto under this mask and now I find you. You're not strong enough by any means to beat him, which means wither someone else did and they're making him use his clones, he's betrayed us, or the most likely, you're an ally. I assume that he gave you some sort of note?"

"On my belt." Haku gasped. For someone so lanky, Hatake-san was surprisingly heavy, especially when he happened to be sitting on one's ribcage.

Kakashi opened the scroll curiously, and had just enough time to throw the scroll to the ground before yet another Naruto clone came tumbling out. "You wanted a word, Kakashi-san?"

"Care to explain this?" The copy-nin returned casually, pointing at the disgruntled, strained, and rather blue looking shinobi underneath him.

"It's rather rude to sit on people, Hatake-san. And he's turning blue. Haku is a friend." He turned to Haku, shoving the jounin to the ground. "I apologize for him. He's a pervert who like to sneak into his student's rooms at night, but he's harmless really. "

Kakashi, opting for a meditative pose, archly ignored the insult . "So if Haku-san is here…"

"The original is with Zabuza, picking up leads."

"Gato isn't that hard to figure out, especially for you. Care to share?"

"Classified."

"Ah."

Silence.

"Why don't you go patrol, Haku. I get the feeling that Kakashi-san wants to rail at me because I made him feel stupid."

"Hai."

"Why do you do it?"

The Naruto-bushin shot him a look. "You don't go shouting around that you're in disguise on an infiltration mission. "

"Nice try, but I'm not that dumb. Why do you do it?"

"I'm the Kyuubi; people don't want me to be strong. They've already shown me that." He replied bitterly, staring at the ground. "If I act like an idiot and a jerk, they still hate me, but they're not afraid of me."

"Is that why you let them hurt you?"

Naruto whipped his head around and he stared up at his Sensei, nodding mutely. "They always have…."

Kakashi felt anger welling up inside him; anger at the ignorance of the villagers, at the negligence of the Hokage , at Naruto's nobility, but ,mostly anger at himself. _Yet another thing you've refused to see._ The voice inside him whispered. _You should have done more, been there. You knew what would happen to a jinchuriki. You were grieving so much for sensei that you couldn't see his son. Apologies will do nothing _"No more." Kakashi vowed aloud, surprising them both. "They have no excuse, and I won't let it happen. Again. I have no excuse. I'm you're teacher, and I care about you. Even if you'r e not quite what I expected. You're so much like your father ….. I remember you know. When you were a baby. You were so small. You always liked my hair. Called me 'Kaka-nii.'" He smiled hesitantly down at his student. "I know that I haven't got a lot to teach you, but if you ever need to talk..."

He cut off as the strong arms found their way around his waist. "Arigato, Kaka-nii."

**I just couldn't resist adding some kaka/naru father-son-mentor-brotherhood fluff in there ****. Hope you don't mind it. And also couldn't resist "You make an excellent crate". Couldn't say no to that one either. How do you feel about all this strangeness? You could tell me about it in a review! *wink wink* **

**Ja!**


	5. Conversation

**AN: Again, this chapter is the product of severe procrastination. The closer exams get, the less I want to study….**

**Disclaimer: No ownership is claimed.**

**Chapter 5:Conversations**

"Don't talk, don't meet their eyes, and **don't** show them **any** of your abilities!" Zabuza instructed in a hiss as they slinked into the back of the crowd of Gato's Yakuza. He laid a hand on Haku-Naruto's shoulder. "Careful, Gaki."

'Haku' smiled serenely. "Aren't I always?"

There wasn't a chance to answer as the already hushed crowd fell silent. Taking that as the signal that it was time to do some heavy duty boot licking, Gato stepped forward.

"So honored that you've come," the short, fat man wrung his hand together, sweating heavily. The two cloaked figures stepped around him, and he was left to flounder helplessly after them. "If there's anything that I can do fo-"

The taller of the two cut him off. "The shinobi. Bring them over."

"Zabuza!" The crime lord barked impatiently. "Here! Now!"

Zabuza only barely suppressed the irritation boiling up within him, and Naruto was pretty sure that Gato's days were very numbered, not that he actually felt sorry for the greedy, cruel, obnoxious man. He would have to pay Zabuza especially well for this mission.

He soaked in what he could of the two Akatsuki-nin's appearances under their hats.

One was short, and, there was no other words for it, long. Naruto's ears could detect the faint sound of clacking wood and metal joints. The joints were well oiled to the point of silence to most shinobi ears, but were discernible none the less. Wood and metal only meant one thing; puppetry. _Aksuna no Sasori_. Naruto's mind supplied.

He turned to the other member. Tall, long, silky black hair. Pale skin. And that voice.

"Nice to see you and your apprentice again, little Zabuza! Ku ku ku."

_Orochimaru._

_

* * *

_"_Ne, Ero-sennin?" _

"_Yeah, Gaki?"_

_The pair were sitting on a bench, enjoying a Popsicle. Normally Naruto would never have allowed himself to be so relaxed on a mission, but the old pervert had refused to move toward the hidden village any faster, insisting that Naruto needed to "loosen up a bit and have some fun" which Naruto translated into 'Use your stealth to help me 'research' adding that "the old monkey can spare you for a few months anyway."_

_Besides, he was supposed to fit in to the guise of 'grandson' since Sarutobi had insisted that they go undercover to avoid 'complications.' _ _Naruto snorted to himself. 'Meddling coot.'_

_The first few weeks Naruto had employed every employable method that he could think of (there were several, given that he was both a devious child with genetic inclinations and had the skills of an elite ninja to boot), but over time they had grown close, Jiraiya providing him with stories about his parents, as well as the Rasengan. _

"_What was Orochimaru like?" Naruto asked. "Before, I mean."_

_Jiraiya rubbed his chin, lost in thought. "Well." He chuckled. "the bastard was always damn pale. He was lonely, I suppose. A prodigy. He was my best friend." The last part was spoken so quietly that the boy could barely hear it._

"_Is he still?" Naruto felt guilty even as he voiced the question. _

"_Still what, Naruto?" The man looked down at him. _

"_Still," Naruto swallowed, wishing he hadn't brought it up. "Still your best friend?"_

"_That's a tough one. You sure know how to pick them, gaki." Jiraiya grinned morosely, ruffling the blonde hair. "I guess some part of me will always look at him as my best friend, but he's done horrible things, Naruto. It's hard for me to accept, but he's not the same person anymore. The man I knew, is dead, basically. If it came down to ending it, I think I'd have to do it." He stared distractedly off into the distance, until one of t he most dangerous ninja in Konoha clambered into his lap. _

"_Gomen, Ero-sennin. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."_

"_It's fine, Gaki." The older nin smiled warmly down at his godson. "It still hurts, but still, I don't mind talking about him. You can ask me anything, Naruto, I mean in."_

"_I hate him." Naruto whispered, and Jiraiya shifted him so that he was facing the nine year old. _

"_What?" _

"_For what he's done. Loneliness is no excuse. Besides, he had you and Jiji-sama."_

"_Don't get ideas, brat." Jiraiya warned sternly, catching the younger nin's eye. "You're not strong enough yet. Orochimaru's nearly at Kage level; you'll be ready in a couple of years, but not now. He's as just as much of a snake as his summons; he's dangerous, not someone that you should be messing with. Be careful, gaki."_

"_Hai, Ero-sensei." Naruto allowed himself a childish eyeroll. _

"_I'm serious, Naruto." The sennin frowned. "Promise me that you won't go after him until you're ready; promise me that you'll wait a few years."_

"_Ero-sensei-!"_

"_Promise."_

"_Alright. I'll wait, Ero-sennin." Naruto sighed. "I promise."_

_

* * *

_"Who's the hunter nin, Zabua-chan?" Orocihmaru's serpentine voice snapped him out of his reverie. Naruto fought to keep his breathing even and his stance somewhat relaxed.

"My apprentice, Haku." Zabuza replied coolly. "You remember him."

"Hai." The sennin purred. "And what did you say that he can do?"

"Nothing much of note yet, beyond mastery of the basic skills." Zabuza replied vaguely. "Though if I have any luck, he'll develop a kekki genkai. He's from the land of snow."

"He seems fairly competent, nice chakra stores, well trained." Orochimaru replied aloofly, obviously no longer interested. "You will go far, if you work for it."

Naruto smirked under the mask, even more so when he thought of how strange such a sardonic expression would look on the normally mild Haku's features. He decided on a polite bow. "Arigato Gozaimasu."

With an acknowledging nod from Orochimaru and a grunt from Sasori, Orochimaru dismissed the merchanaries with a wave of his hand.

Amid the quite blatant whispers of "Creepy." and "How does boss _stand_ them?" from among the thugs, Zabuza led Naruto to his and Haku's small quarters.

Even there, he could hardly get himself to relax.

"So what did you think of them?" Zabuza asked.

"They were impressive, Zabuza-sama." 'Haku' let some awe leak into his voice. Every wall had ears. "Very powerful shinobi."

"Hai." Zabuza agreed. "The prime example of what one of our kind should strive to be. We're running out of herbs. Be back in two hours."

"Hai, Zabuza-sama."

Once in the fresh air, he let out a small sigh of relief, and sped away to find Haku.

* * *

Sakura screamed into who's ever hand was restraining her, struggling wildly, until she heard a familiar voice in her mind that was definitely not Inner Sakura's.

/Relax, its only me./ She was spun around so that she was face to face with the short ANBU. /Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you./

"You could have 'thought' something sooner." She huffed. "How does this special kekki genkai of yours work anyway?"

/Sorry, Sakura./ She felt him grin. /Trade secret./

"Just like your identity." She glowered. "It seems pretty unfair that you know my name and I don't know yours."

/I can't tell you. But who knows,/ He smiled. /Someday when you join ANBU I might tell you./

Sakura snorted to herself, and turned away. "Yeah, maybe." She mumbled.

/You don't think that you can do it./ It wasn't a question.

Sakura sent him an are-you-kidding look. "I'm not like that. I'm not a prodigy like Sasuke-kun, and I'm not from a clan. I'm-" She cut herself off, as if refraining from telling a dark and dirty secret. "I'm the weakest girl in my class. My taijustsu and kenjustsu are bad, I can barley make four bushin without passing out, and I can only run up and down a tree five times without having to take a break!"

/Those are your weaknesses, yes, and I'm not going to lie to you; you have much to work on. But you are forgetting you strengths. As a kunoichi, you'll always be just a bit outmatched in terms of strength and stamina, but you'll have a edge in flexibility. You also have great control and a pretty mighty brain, wonderful assets. And most importantly, all those things you mentioned to me can be fixed. All it takes is hard work and determination. You can have all the talent in the world, but it's nothing without hard work. Sasuke isn't perfect just because he's from a clan. The only thing keeping you from greatness in yourself./ He seemed to change topics suddenly. /What is a shibobi's purpose?/

"To obey their Hokage and do battle for Konoha." Sakura recited dutifully.

/And what does that mean?/

"Nani?" She asked uncertainly.

/Why did you decide to be a kunoichi, Sakura?/

She bit her lip in uncertainly. "Sasuke-kun….?"

/That's what I'm trying to tell you, Sakura. You're not going to succeed as a Kunoichi unless you're doing it for yourself, but more importantly for the village. To be a shinobi is to love your village enough to defend it, to die for it. If you want to get the strongest you can be, it has to be for the right reasons./

"Do you love it that much?"

/He answered without hesitation. /Yes. I love Konoha very much./

"I don't know If I can stop liking Sasuke, though." The pinkette admitted. "I have for so long…."

/I'm not saying that you have to stop liking Sasuke./ He told her, seeming surprised that she had drawn that conclusion, but for some reason she thought she felt a hint of sadness.

"Really?" Her eyes widened.

/It's okay to have a crush. I'm just saying that it's not what should drive you to be a kunoichi, and you shouldn't try to change who you are just for a guy. You're a wonderful, strong woman with great heart; let the world see you like I've gotten to these past three weeks, and you'll have all the boys flocking to you./

"You really think I can do it?" She asked, looking into the eyes of his mask. "Do you think that I can love it that much?"

/Deep down, I think that you already do./

A slow grin worked its way across her face. She lifted a kunai to her hair . She hesitated a moment, but took a deep breath, squeezing the handle hard enough to turn her knuckles white, and sliced. Strands of pink fell to the ground in a heap.

/Sakura?/

"I don't need it to protect my village." She told Kitsune resolutely, trying her best to ignore the ragged edges. "Besides, it's always getting in the way, and this way I'll have more time in the morning for training."

She felt a deep warmth and joy seep into her mind, and she grinned along with the black ops member. /If you come over here, I can even off the edges, if you'd like./

She trotted over to him, and he carefully trimmed, putting in layers and giving it shape. After he was finished, he led her over to a small pond to check her reflection. She gasped. "It looks ever better than before!"

/That's because this is a style that you chose for yourself./

She looked up at him, eyes shining in gratitude, and he felt his heart clench.

"Domo, Kitsune." She hugged him, and his chest tightened even more as he returned the embrace. "You're a good friend."

/You are too, Sakura./

She grinned. " I'll see you soon, ne? I probably should get back now, so Sensei doesn't get worried. And I bet he'll have some pointers for my taijustsu. You'll come an train with me, won't you?"

/Of course./

"Great! I can wait to start. Ja ne! Arigato!"

He stared after her retreating back. Once he was out of sight, he removed his mask slowly.

"Dōitashimashite, Sakura-chan."

* * *

**People reviewed to say that the whole NARU/SAKU scene was a bit vague, and I don't blame them in the least. I wrote that part while I still had the Migrane of the Century, so I came back to read it and found that I had some cleaning up to do. Anyway, to explain:**

**Naruto (as Kitsune) has been trying to get to know Sakura for the last few weeks they've been on the Wave mission. He's sees how much she needs a friend, and he's had a crush on her since their academy days. So about the voice thing, it's not really a kekki genkai, but a perk of holding the Kyuubi. I figured that since the Kyuubi is a very natural/spiritual being, she should at least get the power of telepathy. I know it seems far fetched, but it would be too tedious to have to describe him writing in dirt all the time, since he can't talk or Sakura would recognize his voice.  
**

**Maybe if you guys are interested, and I feel like it, I'll do a humor oneshot of Haku's day with team seven. Best way to tell me? Review!**


	6. Interlude: Catalyst

**AN: Sorry this is so short, but I just got to the point where I felt like it would flow better if the chapter ended. I hope you enjoy it anyway. Finals are almost over! **

**Disclaimer: I don't have enough skill to be able to steal an abstract concept…..**

**

* * *

****Chapter Six: Interlude: Catalyst**

"You're leaving."

Naruto answered, not looking up from the katana he was polishing. "Yes."

The jounin leaned on the wall. "You don't plan to tell Sakura where you're going?"

The blonde didn't answer. "

Kakashi tried again. "You're not going to tell me where you're going?"

A small smile tugged at Naruto's lips. "Classified. You should know that _Inu-san._"

The jounin held up his hands in mock surrender. "Maa, maa. I understand. Just come back safely, ne?"

The now masked ANBU faded into the shadows with a disembodied chuckle. "Safety is my middle name."

* * *

Naruto slinked down the tunnel leading to the alleged Akatsuki base. It was relatively large, but treacherously dark, and filled with traps. Long as well, Naruto didn't imagine that he would arrive there until early the next morning.

* * *

The snake sennin glared, disgusted, at the ruined experiment on the table. It was twitching, in it's death throes, wriggling madly, trying to escape the restraint that he had put upon it. He scoffed dispassionately, and its struggles were stopped by a quick kunai across its jugular. The experiment had failed, and it was of no more use to him.

Licking the blood off the kunai absent mindedly, he called for one of the lesser shinobi to come clean the mess that particular test had made. He strode down the underground corridors, picking up his long cloak to and carefully avoiding the cold puddles of muddy, stagnant water. He glared at the moss covered walls. If this... hovel under a warehouse was the best hospitality that Gato could provide, then perhaps he would serve better as Orochimaru's newest specimen. He had never run any tests on civilians before...

Soon enough, he arrived in front of a sturdy wooden door, and scowled as he sensed his partner pacing within. Holding back a hiss of annoyance, he flung the door open and strode in.

"Kimimaro... " He met Sasori's blank stare coldly. "I believe that it was the mutual agreement that if I did not disturb your belongings, puppeteer, you would do nothing to mine."

Sasori kicked Kimimaro's dead body out of the way as he shuffled slowly over to the other shinobi.

"Leader-sama's orders. " His partner responded in his deep and gravelly voice. "He feels that you are getting to ambitious. Your experimentation is not in the interests of the organization . This was your warning."

"He knows that I only remain until Konoha falls. The chunnin exams are the perfect opportunity!" Orochimaru hissed.

"He will keep his end of the deal, Snake. " Sasori responded contemptuously. "Konohagakura is not a threat; they do not even know of our existence. Unless this changes, we wait until we have them surrounded on all sides before we crush them. Wave is one steps towards this. Be satisfied that Leader-sama is even bothering with the conquest of you pathetic little village. We should be putting all our efforts into finding the Biju!"

Orochimaru's response was cold, low, and deadly. "Get out. Touch anything of mine again, and you will be my next specimen!"

"You've been warned, little serpent." Sasori walked slowly out the door. "Don't forget how expendable you are. Tread carefully; I'll be watching."

Sasori's steps faded down the hallway, Orochimaru's door slammed shut, and the Konoha Anbu who had been hiding in the smallest and dirtiest puddle at the end of the corridor quietly slipped away. Careful to mask any and all signs of his chakra, he cast the appropriate henge and switched places with his clone (also under henge) in Orochimaru's lab. He continued with his allotted task, respectfully closing the dead man's eyes. He felt hot anger bubbling within him. He after all the stories that he had heard from Jiraiya, he still wasn't prepared for the snake sennin's cruelty.

He felt anxiety grow within him, a strong desire to leave, to run from the sick horrors of the room. He rushed to complete the task, hastily wiping the blood off the floor. He wanted to leave, but he couldn't just leave the man...

He sealed the body into a scroll, unwilling to merely dump it of the dock above. He sighed in relief, finally ready to get out. The reason for his nervousness soon became clear as a livid Orochimaru came striding into the laboratory, another one of his shinobi dragging the now dead body of the man Naruto had drugged and was impersonating. Sasori shuffled along behind.

_Ki hebi da! Kuso! _ Naruto swore to himself. He should've listen to his senses and slipped away while he could. He tried to melt into the shadows, but Orochimaru caught sight of him and his stormy expression widened into a sick, smug, grin.

"It appears that Konoha has finally made itself a problem, puppeteer."

* * *

All three members stared as the Kage Bushin they thought was their team member dispersed with a loud puff of smoke.

Sasuke glared in annoyance. Sakura muttered under her breath about lazy, immature, blond idiots, but her gaze was calculating.

Kakashi paid attention to none of this though. A hard ball of fear began to form in his stomach. _Naruto..._

_

* * *

_In the ground beneath the warehouse, the fight began.

* * *

**Next up, the fight for the ages between the two Akatsuki members, Kitsune…. And others. {Not telling : P } It will probably take one or two chapters, depending on how good I turn out to be at writing fight scenes. On an unrelated note, while sketching a rough outline for the fight, I totally just noticed how much Sasori has ripped of Orochimaru. Fighting with the dead, lusting after eternal life by mutilating your own body…. Don't you love it when your evil villains have a marked lack of originality?**


	7. Floccinaucinihilipilification

**AN: I'm so sorry for the wait! Life has just kind of exploded in my face (in a good way, I mean, read: I've been incredibly busy.) I hope you guys like this chapter. **

_Kin'iro no Kitsune: Fox of Gold, Golden Fox. _

_

* * *

_**Chapter Five: ****Floccinaucinihilipilification**

Kakashi swore to himself, running into the house. Flying past Tsunami, he ran up the stairs to his pack and haphazardly started throwing scrolls and knife pouches into his belt. After deciding that he had enough, he ran back to the stairs, swerving to avoid a collision with a returning Tazuna.

"Where are you going?"

"One of my students is in trouble!"

Just as Kakashi was running into the house, Zabuza and Haku were running into the yard.

Sakura drew a kunai, getting into her taijutsu stance. "What have you done with him?"

"I'm not here for a fight!" Zabuza held up both hands. "Kitsune got himself caught, and we don't have much time!"

"Damn straight _you_ don't!" Sakura snarled. "Tell me where he is!"

"You don't listen, do you?" The former mist-nin retorted. "I'm on your side, and I have the seal to prove it!"

"Why should I believe you? You almost killed our sensei!" She accused, preparing to throw. "Give him back!"

"Use you head!" Zabuza snapped, finishing a seal sequence before the genin could stop him. "You think that Kitsune would've just waited around and let your Sensei get trashed? And why would've I bothered with you brats if I had Hatake somewhere that I could kill him, unless I was waiting for the stupid little prodigy to do something that would save all of our covers?" Sure enough, on his arm, shining like a beacon, was a blue Konoha emblem, directly above an ANBU tattoo.

By that time, Kakashi had made it back into the yard. He pulled Sasuke, who had entered into a rather one sided fight with Haku, back by his collar, depositing him on the steps. "You say he was captured. By who and when?"

"About the moment the blonde brat's bushin dispelled, and by two of the Akatsuki." Zabuza replied. "You and I could probably take on one of them evenly enough to get us all out alive."

Kakashi nodded, releasing Sasuke's collar once he was sure that the Uchiha wasn't going to resume his attack on the false hunter-nin. "How much time do we have?"

"None." Zabuza replied with harsh grin. "But get as ready as you can in five minutes. And bring a tanto, if you still carry one."

Kakashi sprinted back into the house. Sasuke brooded on the steps, glaring at the new comers with obvious distrust.

Sakura wandered hesitantly over to the legendary swordsman. "Ano, Zabuza-san?"

He raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"How do you know Kitsune-kun? I though you were a nuke-nin from mist."

He barked out a laugh. "All good shinobi know the slimy bastard's name. _Kin'iro no Kitsune._ Your boyfriend is one hell of a dangerous gaki, bubblegum. But," His gaze softened as he glanced over at Haku politely trying to engage an unwilling Sasuke in conversation. "The brat saved Haku from some mist-nin a while back. He… changed my mind about some things, and gave Haku and I a place in Konoha."

"Souka." Sakura nodded, smiling a bit as she too glanced over at the pair. "That seems like something that he would do."

The pair stood in silence until Sakura mustered up enough courage too ask her original question. "Zabuza-san?"

"Hn?"

"Naruto is really Kitsune, isn't he?"

The double agent was spared from answering as Kakashi landed in front of them, fully equipped. "Sakura, Sasuke, stay here and guard Tazuna."

Zabuza's instructions ran along a similar vein. "Haku, stay here and make sure that these two don't get pummeled if someone along. Whip up some medicine for us if you get restless, but stay near the old man."

"Demo, Zabuza-sama!" The apprentice protested. "I can fight!"

"They aren't your level, gaki. They're Kitsune's league. You'd get crushed. You're better off here. Besides," He grinned. "Don't you trust your Sensei? I promise that we'll bring him back in one piece. Mostly. He still owes me for that crate thing. Stay here, Haku." With one last encouraging clap on Haku's shoulder, he and Kakashi disappeared.

Sakura kicked the dirt. Zabuza hadn't answered her question, but the way he had turned away was confirmation enough. "It doesn't make sense…" She muttered morosely.

"Che." The Uchiha scoffed." It makes perfect sense. The dobe decided to tag along after the ANBU and got himself mixed up in trouble like an idiot."

Sakura didn't seem to hear him. "Why would he do that … hide like that … lie to me… and now he's in trouble." She finished miserably, sitting on the ground and hugging her knees. She stared hollowly at the dirt, and ran her fingers through her hair. As her fingers met the short ends, she seemed to come to some sort of decision, for she leapt to her feet. "I don't care what Sensei says! We're going after him!"

Sasuke frowned, rising to his feet and blocking her path. "What's gotten into you? It's the baka's own fault that he's in whatever trouble he's in, and if **he," **he jabbed a finger at Haku. "Isn't strong enough, than _you_ aren't. And I'm not going anywhere."

She stared at him in shock, before angrily shoving him away and stepping forward. She looked down on him angrily, shocked and sitting in the dirt. "I don't care if I'm not strong enough! He's my friend, and our teammate, and I'm going to help! Do you know what I think?" She didn't wait for a response. "You're just a selfish coward. You're never going to get stronger if you keep fighting for the wrong reasons. If you won't help me, than I'll just go alone. Sayonara, Sasuke-ku-" She cut herself off. "No, Sasuke-_san._"

Sakura continued forward, resisting the urge to look back. She knew that she had probably blown any small chance that she had with Sasuke, but that didn't matter, not anymore. She knew that Kitsune, Naruto, whatever he chose to call himself, had lied to her, but that didn't matter. She knew that she could die, but even that didn't really matter. Naruto was her friend, and being a shinobi meant protecting what you cared about; he had taught her that. Kitsune had said that she was strong enough, so she would be.

"You won't be going alone, Sakura-san," Haku offered her the supplies she forgot in anger. "Because I'm going with you. He's one of my friends as well."

"Matte, matte." Tazuna called. "What about Gato?"

"Sasuke-ku-san," Sakura stumbled over the honorific. "Can protect you. He's staying."

"Besides," Haku added sheepishly. "Once Zabuza-sama realized that our cover was no longer needed, he … exacted some rather… vicious retribution. Gato.. will no longer be a threat to you."

"Ah, Souka." Tazuna scratched the back of his head. "Well, thank you, I guess. Yell at your friend for me when you find him."

"Shannaro!"

With that final parting elegance, Haku and Sakura raced off after their Sensei.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Sweat beaded down Naruto's face as he dodged another combined attack. Working together, Sasori and Orochiamru were a formidable pair. He sent out a clone to distract them as he used one of his wounds to paint an intricate sealing matrix on the floor. As many of the kunai as he could manage got the same treatment.

His injuries were bleeding freely. Earlier on in the fight, Orochimaru had gotten one of his summons to bite the ANBU, and it had messed with the seal on his stomach, completely blocking him from accessing Kyuubi's chakra. Of course, Naruto had blown it up so viciously that all of the summons, from Manda to the smallest garter snake had refused to fight, but it was still a rather major blow.

"Come out, come out, ANBU-kun." Orochimaru's serpentine voice called from around the corner. Naruto switched places with one of his clones hiding in the walls, suppressing all his chakra so that the nuke-nin wouldn't notice.

As soon as Orochimaru's mud clone stepped onto the still drying Kanji, they flared up, bright blue, before the sennin's clone was detonated and seals spiraled up the original's body, spreading and twisting like vines of ink.

Kitsune smirked, dodging to avoid the swirling iron sand of one of Sasori's many puppets. 'Score! How do you like having _your_ chakra sealed, you perverse _jososhumisha_?"

Orochimaru seethed in displeasure. A minor setback, as there was no way that the ANBU would make it out alive, There was still Sasori left for him to deal with, and Orochimaru had sent the sound five out to deal with little Zabuza and his brat, so there would be no help from them. Still… "Be careful, puppeteer, the little brat is a seal master. An annoying maggot, just like his father."

He cursed his own hubris. He had thought the clone expendable, but the ANBU had exploited t he chakra link between clone and creator. He drew out Kusanagi. The brat would pay.

Naruto groaned at Orochimaru's expression of utter sadism, mindlessly dodging and destroying puppets. There seemed to be a never ending flow of them, as the puppeteer was hidden underground somewhere and seemed to be able to produce the wooden weapons at will. Luckily, the Akatsuki member couldn't release anything truly devastating, like poison gas, because then he would off his partner as well. 'Great, he's got a mythical sword, and he looks pissed.'

The sennin's first stroke came down hard and fast, and the boy was hard pressed to parry it with his own ninja-to. He tried leaping up onto the walls, but apparently Orochimaru had used his own blood to partially override the seals, so a small amount of charka steadily leaked through. Not enough to form jutsu, but ('As always.' Kitsune thought wryly. 'Why can nothing ever _work_?') just enough to be a problem.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Are you sure?" Zabuza asked, staring doubtfully down at the dusty warehouse floor.

The copy-nin shrugged. "My nin-dogs never lie, and they say that below this floor reeks of snake, woods, death, and Naruto."

"Damn." Zabuza stared. "Shall I?"

"Allow me." Kakashi grinned darkly. The sound of chirping birds filled the air.

the combatants barely looked up as parts of the ceiling came crumbling down. Kitsune noted with glee, however, that many of Sasori's puppets had been smashed by the rubble.

"Need some help, gaki?" His grin widened as he identified Zabuza'a deep voice, and Kakashi's amused snort.

"That would be nice." He confessed, somehow managing to leap up to the pair. He thankfully accepted the soldier pill that Kakashi handed to him. Technically, since he had already taken one, after the tunnel, he was overdosing, but he didn't really care. Kyuubi could heal any of the toxins running through his system, provide they both lived through what he had in mind.

"Do you think that the two of you can handle the Hebi-teme with the sword?" Kitsune challenged.

Zabuza grinned wickedly and Kakashi cocked a disdainful eyebrow.

The captain's voice turned serious. "Do you think that you can finish him without help?"

Zabuza and Kakashi traded a glance, a nod, unstrapped their respective weapon, and jumped down into melee.

OoOoOoOoO

The large shinobi peered down the hole in the rubble.

"So, is it them?" His female teammate asked impatiently.

_Giant sword. Red eye._ "Yeah, it is."

"Kuso!" The third shinobi, lanky, spidery looking, swore. "Orochimaru-sama is going to kill us!"

"Not if we kill our targets first." The last two shinobi said in perfect unison, raising their kunai up to throw. Just before they released, they were distracted by a small cry

"Sensei!" An leaf genin with long pink hair whimpered, tears streaming down her face. "Please, don't kill him!"

"Why wouldn't we?" Jirobo laughed. "You and your sensei are going to die like the trash that you are."

All the group shared a collective smirk. They were so caught up in the genjutsu that they never noticed the five sebon that ended their lives.

"Not," Haku commented quietly, jumping nimbly out of a tree as Sakura released her genjustu. "If we kill you first."

OoOoOoOoO

Kakashi ducked, lashing out with his foot and left Zabuza to cover the counter attack, thought the Sharingan user (and the fiery tomoe was in full blaze) was grateful that Orochimaru couldn't use any jutsu (courtesy of Naruto, if the seals spiraling around the sennin's body were anything to go by), a sword wielding Orochimaru was almost as bad as one with jutsu. There was no time for hand seals; the tanto and sword were constantly occupied.

Zabuza rolled, twisting the ridiculously large sword, _one-handed_, to change directing in a deadly path toward the snake summoner's neck.

Kakashi took the opening, stabbing as far as he could into Ororchimaru's stomach. The sennin hissed like the snake that he was, and leaned forward to bite the jounin's neck. Executing a well time roll of his own, the Hatake switched places with the demon of the mist. He jerked his head toward the corner that they were drifting toward in question, and the ex-mist nin nodded back.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto leapt agilely around the room, destroying puppet after puppet. On each charka string snapped, a trace of his own was placed. It wasn't parasitic, destructive, or even modified in any way; it was just there, and Kitsune hoped that alone would be enough to make Sasori overlook it.

OoOoOoOoOoO

_Parry, spin, block, kick. Dang it! Haku's symbol meant this hallway should have been clear. Why couldn't the stupid jerk follow the directions of his creepy superiors. Opening, opening, where is an open- there_!

Sakura grunted as she took down the shinobi, placing a small tag of paper on the wall of the narrow passageway. She panted, pausing for a moment. _Only five more tags left to place._

Mustering her strength, she sped as quietly as she could down the dim corridor.

OoOoOoOoO

"You!" The silver haired shinobi barked. "Orochimaru-sama wants everyone to congregate in the fifth chamber, no ecceptions, disobedience on pain of death! Tell everyone you see!"

"Y-yes, Sakon-sama." The shinboi stuttered.

"I'm not Sakon." The teenager's bruised turquoise lips twisted into a strange smile.

"Greatest apologies, Ukon –sama!" The man speeds away as quickly as he can, unnerved, and also not wanting to be late. When Orochimaru-sama meant death, he meant it in the most grisly and drawn out sense of the word.

"No, I am sorry to you." It was Haku, smile turned slightly sadder, who breezed effortlessly down the corridor in the other direction.

OoOoOoO

Sakura stood, leaning nonchalantly on the door of the conference room, henged into the red haired girl she had seen before. She hoped that Haku would arrive soon. She didn't have the chakra capacity to keep up a full-body henge for any length of time, and if her cover fell… that didn't bear thinking about.

"Tayuya." Haku greeted.

"Ukon." She returned. "Is everyone here? I'm not getting the heat from Orochimaru-sama if they aren't."

"Everyone I could sense." He replied.

"Good." She turned to the group at large. "All of you, stay in here until Orochimaru-sama arrives. We're under siege and he doesn't want your worthless hides getting captured and blabbing, understood."

"If we're being attacked, shouldn't we be fighting?" Someone from the crowd shouted.

"Fool!" She hissed. "They are worthless jounin, nothing Orochimaru-sama cannot handle. You dare to underestimate your leader, trash? I'll inform him that he should have as much fun toying with you as he is with the invading imbeciles who dared to think him weak."

The man gulped, and backed down. There were no further protests.

The angry girl closed the door, laying a thin paper strip of intricate kanji on the door frame. She applied he chakra, and a flash of blue seeped into the stone, disappearing completely. She could hear the angry shouts from inside, but all the shinobi were trapped inside.

She dropped her henge with a relieved sigh, and turned to grin at her partner.

OoOoOoOoO

Kitsune glanced over at Kakashi and Zabuza. They had backed Orochimaru into a corner, and Zabuza had him trapped in a water dome. Kakashi's tanto had lines or electrically charged chakra running down it, chirping like birds.

'Chidori.' Naruto smiled. 'I guess it's time, then.'

Unknown to most parties, traitorous puppet master included, Naruto had fought Sasori once before. He had been visiting Gaara in Suna (against the Kazekage's express orders, but who really cared about what _he_ thought?) on the night of the defection, and donning his mask, had joined Chiyo-obaa-sama in the confrontation of her grandson.

Kitsune had kept to the shadows, delivering crippling blows while the elder puppeteer had kept Sasori distracted . it had worked all to well; by the end, Sasori lay in pieces on the ground, a d the grieving elder and her escort turned away to head back to the village.

The only looked back in time to see th last piece of Sasori, his heart, return to his wooden body, before he disappeared with a laugh.

It was for this reason that Kitsune was lucky enough to know Sasori's weakness. If you couldn't destroy the body, destroy the only part that kept it going.

Kitsune's chakra sped out in string of his own, connecting up with the traces on Sasori's, and coiling around them.

'Get ready, Kyuu-chan, 'cause this is gonna hurt like a bitch.'

With that, the captain focused all his energy. Biting back a scream, the ANBU drew the demonic chakra _through_ Orochimaru's seal, and sent it spiraling down his strings and onto Sasori's. The Akatsuki tried to pull away, but it was too late; the Kyuubi's chakra had already entered his system. Naruto clenched his teeth against the white-hot burning pain of manually overriding the seal. He kept going, pumping waves and waves of demonic chakra into Sasori, racing through the puppet's chakra pathways, through his coils, and into his heart. Finally, he heard the 'pop' and felt the other's chakra vanish.

The agony overtook him then, and he let out one long scream before allowing the darkness to take him.

* * *

**All of you should be very thank Border's bookstore for this chapter, and the fact that they sell Random House's _Japanse English Dictionary _(thank my mother as well, because she insisted on buying it for me)_. _Since I am a geek who actually _reads _dictionaries, especially of foreign languages (though the english one is delicious too) my muse was inevitably sparked. You must admit, having resourses that allow you (or Naruto) to call Orochimaru a transvestite in his own language is undoubtably awesome. Review? Please? For Borders, and my Mother, at least, if you're one of the many that hate my guts for not posting in forever ?**


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